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Photo (cc) The leaders admit "grave concern [about] the gap between current country pledges and what is needed, and will work towards increasing mitigation ambition in the period to 2020".

G8 call for stronger action on climate change

Post Date: 19 June 2013

Leaders attending the G8 Summit in Northern Ireland have reiterated their commitment to delivering bold action to tackle climate change.

Their final communiqué contains a page on the subject, stating that "it is one of the foremost challenges for our future economic growth and well-being".

They admit to having "grave concern" about the failure to deliver sufficiently deep emission cuts and about the economic and security risks that result from climate impacts.

They then commit themselves to working with international bodies including the UNFCCC, the Major Economies Forum, the International Civil Aviation Organisation and International Maritime Organisation, and Climate and Clean Air Coalition to improve the situation, and to supporting the UNFCCC's efforts to deliver a new legally binding compact to limit emissions at the Paris Summit in 2015.

"We also note with grave concern the gap between current country pledges and what is needed, and will work towards increasing mitigation ambition in the period to 2020," the statement continues.

"We reiterate our commitment to the developed countries' goal of mobilising jointly $100bn of climate finance per year by 2020 from a wide variety of sources in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation and are advancing our efforts to continue to improve the transparency of international climate finance flows."

The statement's section on global trade additionally proclaims a new ambition to boost trade in green goods and obliquely criticises the escalating trade war between the US, the EU and China over solar technologies.